1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a housing arrangement for a flow meter, with at least one housing and at least one display device which is located on the housing. Furthermore, the invention relates to a flow meter with a housing arrangement.
2. Description of Related Art
Housing arrangements for meters, especially for flow meters, are known in the prior art in a plurality of configurations. Conventionally, housing arrangements with a housing are used to accommodate at least one part of the electronics of the meters which comprise, for example, components for acquiring, evaluating and displaying measured values. A housing arrangement is preferably located on a segment of a measuring tube of a flow meter and is connected to it.
In a plurality of meters, on the housing of a housing arrangement, there is also a display device which displays the operating parameters and/or the measured values of the respective meter, for a flow meter, for example, the current flow rate or the temperature of the medium is displayed. Furthermore, the meter can be configured, for example, using a display device in the form of a touchscreen. Alternatively, for example, operator controls are provided with which parameters of the meter can be interrogated or influenced.
In self-contained flow meters which have an independent internal structure and which transfer their measurement results preferably via a wireless interface to a central location, a power supply is often accommodated within the housing of the housing arrangement, for example, in the form of a battery or rechargeable battery. In any case, known flow meters with an internal energy source have the disadvantage that the service life of the battery is very limited due to the occasionally high power demand, as a result of which the maintenance cost for the flow meter is increased by need for regular replacement of the batteries.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,721,383 discloses a flowmeter system having a flow meter and wireless transmitter and a photo voltaic battery cell that is coupled to a counter and the transmitter by conductors. The use of the photo voltaic battery cell is intended to reduce the maintenance required for continued operation of the flow meter system as the cell can be maintained in a charged state sufficient to operate the flow meter system by being exposed periodically to ambient light. However, there is no particular disclosure relative to the location of the photo voltaic battery cell so provide an optimally compact arrangement.